Agape
by thorteso
Summary: Sequel to "Friends or Tails" and "Unfinished Business". Harm and Mac find themselves in the midst of a he said she said case in Crete.


Agape

0115 ZULU

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

Harm slowly walked off the elevator and headed towards his office. It had been a long weekend spent in the bathroom and he had even called in sick on Monday as well. This morning, even though he still felt like he had spent a week on a storm tossed carrier, he sucked it up and came into the office, even if it wasn't exactly on time.

Mac had stayed with him Sunday night, soothing him and comforting him. And even though he had been hoping to not show Mac the "in sickness" part of their vows so soon, he was glad she was with him. He was almost 40, but it was still nice to have someone take care of you when you aren't feeling well. She had tried to convince him to let her to take Monday off as well, but he had insisted that she go into work. All he wanted to do at that point was sleep. They had talked on the phone Monday night but he still wasn't up for dinner so they both agreed to see each other in the morning.

Now entering the bullpen he wondered if he had time to stop in and see Mac before he got to work. That is of course if the Admiral wasn't already looking for him. With his luck Webb was waiting and he would be on his way on an undercover assignment. Putting his head down to avoid detection, as well as Harmon Rabb could, he made his way to Mac's office. Just as he picked up his head and was about to knock he realized that her office was empty. With a sigh he went to his own office to put down his cover and briefcase. Sitting down at his desk he groaned as he looked over the large stack of messages and files that had piled up in his absence.

Halfway through listening to his first voicemail message Harm heard a soft knock on his door. Looking up a huge smile spread across his face as he saw the sparkling eyes of the woman of his dreams. The woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with. She came into his office and shut the door quietly and sat down in a chair in front of his desk.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey. What are you doing all the way over there?"

"Harm! We are in the office first of all. And secondly, no less than 24 hours ago you were puking your guts out. I think right here is as good as it gets for right now."

"Later?"

"You bet, Flyboy."

"So, what did I miss?"

"Actually, I was just coming to see you. The Admiral wants to see us. I don't think that we are going to be sticking around for too long. The SecNav was here yesterday when I was leaving."

"Fantastic."

"Harm?" at his questioning eyes she continued, "should we tell the Admiral? I mean this would be the perfect time, and I was going to go pick up the ring at lunch, and I am DYING to tell someone. I just want to get started on being with you. Plus maybe we can both finagle a duty free weekend to, umm, celebrate the engagement?" she said with a nervous smile.

Being mindful of the office, instead of taking her in his arms like he wanted to, he discreetly ran his hand down her arm. "I think that's a great idea. Maybe we could fly out to La Jolla and tell my mom and Frank or up to Beallsville to tell Gram. Then we could start planning that wedding."

Sarah nodded in response. She didn't know how she felt about the big wedding production. Granted she wasn't in love with Mic as much as she is in love with Harm, but the wedding plans were the thing that upset her the most. Sarah MacKenzie wanted to be married and happy. She didn't need the big beautiful ceremony; all she wanted was the marriage, one that was intimate and everlasting and loving. Harm saw the look in her eye but knew that this was not the time or the place to talk about wedding plans. All he wanted was to be with Sarah. He didn't care where or how, as long as she was his for the rest of his life.

With a knock at the door, the familiar gruff "Enter" boomed from the inner office. Coming to attention in front of AJ's desk, Harm an d Mac waited for the details of their newest assignment. Mac let her mind drift back to the last time they were in front of this desk together; so much had changed since then.

"At ease. Commander, nice to see you back among the living. I would try to get here on time tomorrow however."

"Understood, Sir."

"Alright people have a seat. I have a very angry SecNav and I want to get this over with as soon as possible. You are both to report to NSA Souda Bay. The earliest transport Tiner could get was for tonight. You will be flying commercial into London and then changing planes again in Athens before getting to Crete. The USS George Washington has been in port at Souda Bay for a few days now. Apparently while some sailors and marines were on a guided tour of a nearby monastery in the surrounding mountains a couple Petty Officers accosted two German tourists. Not only is the German government yelling foul, but so are the Greeks. To make matters worse, the Greek officials in the port are pushing the aircraft carrier to a poor anchorage endangering the ship and crew. Now NATO is involved and, well it's just a huge mess. I need you two to go over there and straighten it out. Any questions?" the Admiral concluded as he handed them both some thick files.

"No, sir," they both said as they began to leaf through the stacks in their laps.

"Alright then, you have the rest of the day to reassign your current cases and pack. Tiner has all the other information you need. Dismissed."

"Well, Sir, before getting to that, I was hoping to have a word with you about a personal matter," Harm began.

"Yes, Sir, I too, Sir, have something that I need to discuss with you," Mac agreed.

"Alright, but make it quick people."

"Well, Sir," Harm began again, "it all started about a month ago when…"

Harm was cut off by Tiner's voice coming over the intercom. "Sir, SecNav is on line1. He said, Sir, and I quote, Sir, that you either get to his office with an update within the hour or he will come here."

With a smothered curse AJ told Tiner he would be right there and began to gather his things.

"Sir, about that personal matter…"

"Rabb, this will have to wait until you get back. Don't screw this up. Colonel, keep an eye on him," their commanding officer said as he quickly left the office and made his way to the elevator.

"Well, so much for that," Harm said with a sigh.

"It's OK, we'll tell him when things calm down a bit. But in the meantime Flyboy, looks like we are off and running again. What do you say that we get rid of these cases and then go home and pack? Pick me up at 1430 or do you want me to drive this time?" Mac said as they crossed the bullpen to her office.

"What do you say we get rid of these cases and then go to my place so you can, uh, help me pack? Or your place for that matter."

"Because there is no way that either one of us will get any packing done that way. Pick me up at 1430, I'll see you then."

1307 ZULU

NSA Souda Bay

Souda Bay, Crete, Greece

The Commander and the Lieutenant Colonel got to work right after checking in with base command. It had been a long 14 hours of travel, but since it was already 1500 local time, they wanted to get a jump-start on their interviews. From the file that was hastily put together for them, they found that Petty Officers Dale Tucker and Charlie Herring had fought, and injured two German tourists. Apparently there weren't any other witnesses in the area; Tucker and Herring had circled back before everyone else wanting to move onto other "parts" of their liberty.

Finally a knock was heard at the door and Harm and Mac looked up to see the guards ushering in two petty officers. However, they were the last two either one of them would have guessed. It turned out that Dale Tucker and Charlie Herring were women. The two female non-comms stood at attention waiting to be acknowledged by the superior officers. Harm's eyes darted between the women and Mac, trying to digest this new information.

In front of Harm the 5'6" blonde named Dale Tucker was desperately trying not to fidget nervously. Beside her stood Charlie Herring, a girl with big blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair, she was just a bit smaller than her compatriot. Although smaller, Charlie had a fire in her eyes and had no problem standing in front of the officers.

Finally Mac broke the tension in the air and asked the women to take a seat so that they could begin their questioning.

1500 ZULU

NSA Souda Bay

Souda Bay, Crete, Greece

"Well, that was unexpected," Harm sighed after the Petty Officers had left.

"What? Do you think that women can't hold their own and take out two men?" Mac retorted.

"Mac, if I have learned anything over the past 8 years, its that women can hold their own, especially a certain Jarhead I know. But these two put two German men, almost twice their size in the hospital."

"How do we know that they aren't telling the truth? That they were defending themselves from unwarranted advances?"

"Mac, its one thing to kick someone down and get away, its another entirely to beat them unconscious and leave them on a cliff. And, how do we know that they are even telling the truth yet? Just because they are women?"

"Before I respond to that and we both start screaming at each other, let's go to the hospital and check on the Germans."

"Alright, let's go."

1730 ZULU

Gouverneto Monastery

Akrotiri, Crete, Greece

Having gone to the hospital and getting contradicting statements from the German men, Harm and Mac decided to go to the site of the incident to get some perspective.

"Harm, someone has to be lying here. They both claimed that they were just hiking in the trails and were attacked by the other one and only acted in self defense."

"And apparently, there are no witnesses. Tucker and Herring broke off from the rest of the MWR group to go further into the ravine and the Germans were travelling alone. And, why would these two men admit that they were beaten up by girls?"

"I cannot believe you just said that out loud. Oh, I think we are here."

Harm could see up ahead a parking lot outside a stone monastery coming into view. After having travelled a few miles from the main road by the airport, they were finally on the top of the Akrotiri peninsula and at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. It was a very old building and it looked like one was stepping into the middle ages. Getting out of their car, they both went to the door, intending to ask around inside. However, there was a big wooden beam across the door and a sign that said that visiting hours were over. On the other side of the wall, the sounds of the monks chanting in prayer could be heard from the chapel.

"Well, I think if we follow this trail we should be able to figure out where this all happened."

Walking down the marked trail that was cut into the cliff, Harm and Mac made their way past a cave and down some narrow steps to the bottom of the ravine. There at the bottom were what looked to be like ruins that would have gone with the monastery and then the trail came to an abrupt end. This was the spot described by both the Americans and the Germans as to where the confrontation took place. Looking around they both could not see too much that would give them clues. However, the narrowness of the path and the rough footing of the terrain would make it difficult for anyone to move around too much.

They had begun their ascent back up the path and were at the spot of the cave again when Mac gasped and Harm turned around frightened.

"Mac? What is it?"

When he saw her she had a bright smile on her face. "Harm, look."

He followed where her finger pointed and saw a pair of goats walking down the mountain face as if it was flat land.

Laughing softly at her as she watched the goats, Harm took in his surroundings. He was at the cave of Arkouditissa. It was a beautiful save with a large stalagmite in the middle of it. It also looked like it had a Greek Orthodox altar in the side of the entrance. Pulled out of his musings by Mac's reminder that she was tired and hungry, he set out again, following her up the path and back to their car.

0645 ZULU

Cave of Arkouditissa

Akrotiri, Crete, Greece

The next morning both Harm and Mac agreed to split up in an effort to get this mess sorted out as quickly as possible. Right know it looked like a case of he said she said and neither side looked like it was going to budge. Mac was going to talk to the Petty Officers again and also other people from the carrier in an effort to get something that would shed some light on who these women were. And from there she was going to try to tackle the Germans again, seeing she spoke the language better than Harm.

For his part Harm was going to try to talk to the captain of the George Washington and anyone at the harbor who would listen to him. This had to be done fast as a storm was set to come in and the carrier would not be able to withstand the winds in the poor anchorage spot, especially while K14, the carrier port, remained empty.

But first, Harm was going back to the site of the incident to find maybe some witnesses or anyone who might have been in the area that day. He had looked up information about the cave the night before and found out that this cave had been a religious site for many cultures. In neo-lithic times it was both a living quarters and a place where the people worshipped a bear shaped stalagmite. The Greeks later named it for the goddess Artemis, often time associated with the bear, and worshipped her here, naming it a temple. Later, the Christians renamed the chapel to Virgin Mary Arkoudiotissa (Little bear). The cave withstood all invasions that Crete had gone through in the past few thousand years and still stood as a religious site created by nature.

Looking across the ravine he saw many other smaller caves dotting the mountainside. Just as he thought he saw movement in one, a tourist came up to him and asked him for the time. Harm obliged and then turned back to figure out what he saw in the mountains, but it was gone. Thinking it must have been a goat, he turned to go back toward the monastery, hoping to talk to someone who had been there that day.

1125 ZULU

Il Forno Restaurant

Souda Bay, Kalives, Crete

"Harmon Rabb? Is that you?" Commander Mark Kirkland called out, shocked to see the tall naval commander in this part of the world.

"Mark? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I am the base Chaplain, I'm supposed to be here. The question is, what are you doing here?"

"Base Chaplain, that's something I never would have pegged you for during our Academy days! I am actually here investigating a case. I am just about to meet my partner for lunch."

"Hey, you were the one always getting us in trouble, I was just there along for the ride, praying for all your souls."

"Well, from what I remember, we really needed it!"

"I won't keep you from lunch, but catch up with me before you leave."

"Will do, definitely. Talk to you soon." Harm said as he ducked inside the taverna looking for Mac.

"It's about time, Flyboy! Have you ever tried French fries with tzatziki? It's really good!"

"Only you could find a way to eat junk food at a small taverna in Greece."

"You're just jealous," Mac replied with a wink.

"Anyway, what did you find out?"

"Well, not much, apparently the women are great petty officers and respected by their superiors and those they work with. I didn't get much out of the German tourists; they clammed up as soon as they saw me. They are out of the hospital and being put up at a hotel in Chania. What did you find out?"

"Well, I talked to the harbor master and it looks like they are going to let the carrier back into inner harbor anchorage, at least for the storm. As for the trip to Akrotiri, I didn't learn too much. But I didn't get to talk to all of the monks at the monastery. Some were out working and others were in isolation praying."

"I'm a private person and all, but I don't think that I could do that," Mac mused.

"Do what?"

"Be a hermit. Some of those monks go live in a cave for months at a time, never talking to another human being. I like my quiet time, but I couldn't be cut off from everyone for that long."

"What did you say?"

"Being a hermit in a cave, it must be lonely."

"You just gave me an idea. C'mon, let's go."

"But, Harm, we haven't eaten yet!"

"Later, let's go," he said, throwing some Euros on the table to cover the fries.

1215 ZULU

Gouverneto Monastery

Akrotiri, Crete, Greece

"What are we doing here?" Mac said once again, getting frustrated that Harm wasn't telling her what was going on. But she also recognized that he was in "the zone", something that she had learned to be patient with over the years.

After finding a monk that had some passing knowledge of English, Harm began asking about the caves in the mountain and if there were any hermits living in there at this time.

"Does anyone have contact with the hermits while they are in isolation?"

"Ναι…uhhh…yes. Food is brought to them every two day."

"Is there any way we could send a message with the next person who brings them food and get a response?"

"Ναι, it is OK. The novice go in two hour."

Quickly Harm started pulling out his English to Greek dictionary in hopes of composing a note to the monk in the cave. By this time Mac had caught on to his plan. If the hermit saw any of the altercation it could finally mean an end to this investigation and a settlement to the whole "he said she said" headache.

During their almost three hour wait, Harm and Mac decided to take another walk around and see the beautiful scenery from on top of the peninsula. Finding that they were all alone, Harm came up behind Mac and wrapped his arms around her and linked their hands together.

"Mmmmm…This is perfect." Mac sighed as she leaned back into Harm's strong embrace and looked out over the mountains and the Mediterranean.

Harm lifted up their linked hands and looked at the sparkling diamond on her left hand. "No, that is perfect."

"Not to ruin this moment, but we really have to tell the Admiral."

"I know, we will as soon as we get back. He can't send us out of the country AGAIN so soon after what has been going on these past few months."

"Yes, and when we tell him we can ask for leave to go see your parents."

"Yes, and even though we've been to The Wall together in the past, I want to go tell my dad that we finally found each other. I think he was getting sick of hearing about how much I loved you but couldn't have you."

"I think he will be as relieved as Jingo, that poor dog has heard nothing but things about you for years now."

"Well maybe after the wedding we can buy him a nice big backyard to run around in."

Smiling, Mac turned and gave Harm a kiss on the cheek. Everything really was perfect. She was finally getting her dream of the perfect family, well at least the setting for a perfect family. They would have to work on the actual children part after the wedding. The Wedding. She still didn't know how she felt about it. She wanted it to be more special than her marriage to Chris, but she also didn't want to be forced into the big wedding that was being planned with Mic.

Harm sensed her unease and decided that now was as good a time as any to bring it up. "Sarah, what bothers you about the wedding? Are you not sure about us? Do you want to wait longer?"

"No, Harm, I want to be married to you, that is all I have wanted for years. It's just I don't know how I feel about the whole big wedding ordeal. I was planning that with Mic and it's not what I wanted. Part of me wants the whole thing, you standing there in your dress whites and gold wings, the arch of steel, everyone who ever teased us about our relationship there to see. But the other part of me wants to keep it private. Just the two of us. A small romantic wedding with no other distractions or obstacles. Just us, telling each other how we will love each other for eternity."

"I will admit, all of our friends will want the big military wedding at the Academy. And I want to see you walk down the aisle in a beautiful white dress. My best man will have to remind me to breathe you will be so beautiful. But I am not very good at expressing my feelings for you, especially in front of other people. And I want that day to be about us. I remember how upset you were when you were planning your wedding with Brumby. I don't want that to be us. I just want to be married to you. To hold you in my arms and to never let go."

Sarah turned in Harm's embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck. Intending to give him a quick kiss of thanks, the kiss deepened into a love-affirming symbol of all that they had just said to each other. Pulling away, Mac whispered "thank you."

"Thank you? For what?"

"For getting it and not pressuring me about the whole thing."

"Well, I may have misread a lot of signals along the way, but I think I am finally starting to speak Sarah MacKenzie."

"Finally!"

Standing there for a few more minutes just looking out over the mountain in silence, an idea began to form in Harm's head.

"I think I have somewhat of a solution."

"A solution, for what?"

"Just hear me out, Counselor. If this witness thing works out, our case should be pretty much over by tomorrow morning. There is no way we will get a transport out of here though until probably the next day."

"OK…"

"When we get home and finally tell people that we are together and engaged, they will want to big formal wedding with all the trimmings. I say we give it to them."

"But Harm…"

"No wait, listen. We give them what they want when we get home. But, as I recall, you wanted to get married on a mountainside with goats in the middle of nowhere and Brumby wouldn't let you. Well, we are on a mountainside, there are goats, and I don't think, no matter how good they are, the Bullpen Gossip Circle will find out about this. Why don't we get married here, at the cave, tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow. Just me and you and the goats."

"But how are we going to find a minister? And prepare for everything? I mean there is so much that goes into a wedding."

"Shhh, you just worry about the dress and your vows and I will take care of the rest." The only response Harm got for his crazy plan was an earth-shattering kiss from his beautiful bride-to-be. "So is that a yes?"

"Of course it is. C'mon let's get back and see if we can get this case solved. _You_ have a lot of plans to make before tomorrow." She said with a wink. They both walked hand in hand back to the top of the path, barely able to contain themselves.

1145 ZULU

shopping district

Chania, Crete, Greece

Harm had been right. The case was all wrapped up by early this morning. The hermit had seen what happened. It turned out the German tourists had been intoxicated and were following the young petty officers around. With the language and cultural barrier, their first encounter did not go well and the women tried to get them to back off. They attacked the men and apparently had done a very good job at overpowering them. To make a long story short, when the men had been found unconscious on the side of a mountain everything snowballed for everyone. The men didn't want to explain what happened and going along with the story that they had been attacked seemed the best thing to do at the time. The women wanting to get as far away from the situation as possible, left the peak and went back to the base.

After the truth came out, the petty officers faced an Admiral's mast and non-judicial punishment for their actions. The civilians were not pressing charges and were going home with their tails between their legs. Facing fines and probation they had a flight the next morning.

Now that all of that was settled, Mac was wandering around Chania looking for a dress to get married in. She honestly had no idea what to look for. She didn't even know if she was looking for white. What she did know was that she wasn't looking for a long dress, she wasn't going to be tripping over a train walking up a mountain. Finally she came upon what looked to be a formal dress shop. She hoped that she could find something here, she was running out of time and hadn't even thought about her vows yet.

"Μπορώ να σας βοηθήσω;" (Can I help you?) a woman asked as Mac was wandering around the store. Remembering some of her common Greek phrases from the book on the plane Sarah understood her. Also conscious, as ever, of the time, she thought she would take the woman up on her offer.

Trying her best Mac responded, "φόρεμα για το γάμο;" (dress for wedding?).

"σου;" (yours?)

"ναι" (yes)

After looking the Marine up and down for a few minutes she replied in English, "come," and the motherly figure took Mac by the arm and led her towards a back rack in the shop.

And there it was. It was the first dress that the woman had picked up off the rack. The woman held up an ivory tea length dress. It was a square neck with a halter-top. Tears sprang to Mac's eyes as she ran her hand over the dress. The part that made it perfect was the fact that there were two thick ribbons around the middle. One was in a sailor blue and the other in a mossy green. The dress could not have been more perfect for the marine's wedding to her sailor.

Seeing Mac's reaction and knowing that she had picked the right gown, the woman led Mac to the dressing room and picked up a pair of shoes to go with the gown on the way.

SAME TIME

SHOPPING DISTRICT

CHANIA, CRETE, GREECE

"Hammer, are you sure about all this?" Mark asked as he followed Harm out of yet another store. They had spent the morning ironing out all the details of the wedding. Harm had been waiting outside his office when he got in this morning. Before even telling him what this was about, Harm began dragging him around the city. After the stop to the florists, Mark made Harm stop and tell him what was going on.

Although he never expected the phrase "I'm getting married" to come out of Harm's mouth, he was very excited for his former classmate. When Harm finished the sentence with "today" Mark was left speechless. The only thing he could think to respond with was "are you sure?"

Before Harm even began speaking, the look on his face let Mark know that Harm was serious. His eyes held a mixture of love and tranquility, tempered with just the right amount of anxiety and excitement that Mark ha d seen in other grooms-to-be. Mark continued to follow Harm around from store to store as Harm began in a Rose Garden and narrated the story of his great love.

Mesmerized by the story, the Chaplain almost missed it when Harm concluded with, "and now you are going to marry us at sunset in the cave on the top of Akrotiri near the Monastery."

"I'm what?"

"You are going to marry us today on a mountain with goats," Harm said with a brilliant smile as he went into yet another store.

0530 ZULU

Cave of Arkouditissa

Akrotiri, Crete, Greece

The sun was setting and everything was in place. Harm stood anxiously next to Mark at the mouth of the cave in a suit. He contemplated borrowing dress whites from someone on base, but he decided to forego the uniform for a simple tan suit with a green tie. Today was about Harm and Sarah. And if they really went through with the big formal ceremony when they got home, then it could be about the Commander and the Colonel. Today was about just the two of them, something that made breaking the regulations just a bit more palatable.

After his initial shock, Mark had been a great help. He talked two of his friends from the base to come along as witnesses and even found someone from public affairs to come with a camera.

All that was left was his beautiful Marine. Although they had not seen each other all day while they ran errands, they had been talking on the phone all day. They had set the time for 1930, just in time for the sunset. Harm was fidgeting and kept looking at his watch every 30 seconds. He for once was on time and he was dying to see his bride-to-be.

Just then Sarah MacKenzie came around the corner. With her were Dale Tucker and Charlie Herring. Having run into the Colonel during the day and hearing of their former lawyers' plans, they immediately offered to help Mac get ready and to bring her to the mountainside. When she caught sight of Harm a brilliant smile lit up her face, everything she ever wanted was almost in her grasp.

Harm was speechless. She was beautiful and she was finally his. He walked over to her and enveloped her into his arms. With a quick kiss he pulled back.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," he whispered back, not able to get anything else past the lump in his throat.

After about a minute of just staring at each other they heard a gentle cough behind them from Mark. Mac pulled Harm down for another quick kiss and then said, "c'mon, let's get married, Sailor." Taking her hand in his he led her towards the mouth of the cave and towards their future.

Neither one of them honestly remembered what Mark said. He was a gifted Chaplain and gave a beautiful speech about love and marriage. But all that mattered was that they had finally made it. Mac squeezed Harm's hand tighter, trying to prove to herself that this was all real.

Before Harm knew it, Mark turned to him and cueing him, "Harm…"

"Sarah, I have been trying to figure out how to say all that I have ever wanted to tell you. Unfortunately, I only had 24 hours," he said with a smirk. "It may seem impulsive to be getting married at the mouth of a cave while on assignment half way around the world. But I could not think of a better place than this cave. Besides meeting the requirements of being on a mountain and there being goats around here, the cave itself is a metaphor for us. This cave has been reinvented along with all of the varying people who have occupied these parts. It has always been a place of worship and has fulfilled the needs of those who come here. This cave has stood the test of time. It has weathered many things, many changes. But in its essence, it is the same cave. Our love has and will weather many things. It has and will stand the test of time. Our love will be our shelter and refuge in times of trouble. My words are getting away from me, so just know this…I love you, Sarah Catherine MacKenzie, and I always will."

With tears in her eyes Mac began to speak. "Harm, from the beginning we have had less than a conventional relationship. Partners and friends never seemed to be the right label for us. What I have finally come to admit, after all this time, is that the right label is soul mate. In these past few weeks I have found a love that I didn't think was possible. A love that makes me believe in all of the clichés I had always denounced. But I think the most amazing thing about our love is the fact that it started out as friendship. You are my best friend. Yes, you are the love of my life, and after today will be my husband, but first and foremost you are my best friend. In Greek there is more than one word for love_. _ _Eros_ is romantic and erotic love. A passion that burns bright between two people. _Phila _is generic and friendly love, something that is shared between friends. However, there is also a much greater and eternal love_. Agape_ represents divine, unconditional, and self-sacrificing love. I love you in a way that reaffirms my belief in the divine and fate. I love you so unconditionally that I can forgive you all of your antics. And I love you so much that I would sacrifice all that I am to make sure that you are happy. So, I _agape_ you, Harmon David Rabb, Jr., I always have and I always will." When Mac finished they both slid the rings they had gotten just that morning on the other's third finger.

Mark broke the trance by again turning to Harm and asking, "Harmon, do you take Sarah to be your lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Harm replied with even more conviction than any courtroom speech.

"Sarah, do you take Harmon to be your lawfully wedded husband. To have and to hold, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," she said with a clear and sure voice.

"Then by the power vested in me by the United States Navy, I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Before he could even suggest it, Harm had leaned down and Mac had stood on her toes, bringing their lips together in a tender and deep kiss.


End file.
